


Last Request

by Anonymous



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not sure how much comfort though, Stuff is kind of bittersweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28638636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Italy and Prussia have a talk.
Relationships: North Italy & Prussia (Hetalia), North Italy & South Italy (Hetalia), Prussia/South Italy (Hetalia)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15
Collections: Anonymous





	Last Request

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my lice for encouraging me to post this.

“Ita-cakes this isn’t necessary.”

“I don’t mind doing it!”

Prussia was sitting on his bed, hunched forward. Lately old scars had reopened all over his body, started bleeding, occasionally got infected. He could take care of them by himself just fine, but he supposed he could allow Italy to take care of his awesome back. He just sounded so eager to and he didn’t want to disappoint him, it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that it was impossible to do on his own.

“It reminds me of the time I spent as a child with Grandpa Rome…” Italy’s voice had taken a softer edge.

“Oh. I’m sorry to remind you of sad things.”

“Hm? Oh no! I like to reminisce about him. We did lots of great things together!”

Prussia looked over his shoulder, Italy’s face was illuminated by his bedside lamp and he could see he was smiling for real as he recounted all the things Grandpa Rome had taught him. That was a relief. 

As he listened, he turned towards Romano, bent over the side of his bed, sound asleep and drooling a little over the comforter. God, he was adorable. Was it really any wonder Prussia’s phone was full of pictures of him like this?

Italy must have noticed him looking at his brother, because he said: “Ah, Romano seems to have complicated feelings about Grandpa Rome…”. For the first time that night he sounded dejected.

“What do you mean?"

“He often mentions how good Gramps was with this and that, he wore that Roman costume on Halloween a few years back, he seems proud to be his descendant. But on those rare times he manages to come visit, Romano never wants to see him…” 

“I see…”

He debated whether to tell Italy the real reason, he really wanted to make him happy again, but it didn’t feel right to share things that Romano hadn’t felt comfortable enough to tell him himself. 

“I…I think I get it though,” Italy’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Romano didn’t get to spend much time with Grandpa Rome. When we were little, he only took me with him, Romano was left behind. And when we parted ways…he was barely holding himself together.” Italy averted his gaze, he seemed ashamed. He fidgeted with the gauze in his hands. 

Oh no.

No no no.

Shit.

“Ita-cakes, look at me.”

Italy looked at him with unsurprisingly teary eyes.

“You can’t cry.”

“But-”

“West is gonna kill me!”

That surprised a laugh out of Italy, who moved to wipe at his eyes.

Before he could say anything, Prussia continued: “Look, Romano told me a bit about this stuff…and I can’t really tell you all he said, that’s something he has to do if he wants to. But I can assure you one thing. He _loves_ Grandpa Rome. Biiiiiiiig time” he moved his arms to create a big gap between them to emphasize his point. “And he loves you too. Huuuuuuuge time.” The gap between his arms grew wider.

“Really?” Italy asked, hopeful.

“Yes!” Prussia replied, grinning.

“Ah, I’m so glad!” Italy’s smile could brighten the room by itself now. Good.

“Hmm…shut your trap, asshat…” 

Romano’s voice very nearly gave both Italy and Prussia a heart attack.

“I’ll punch you…with kisses…”

Thank _fuck_ he was just babbling in his sleep. Adorable usually, but god, he’d shat his pants.

The first one to break into a fit of giggles was Italy, followed very quickly by Prussia.

“Didn’t expect Romano to say something like that!” Italy said, his gaze lingering for a moment on his brother before resuming his ministrations on Prussia’s back.

Prussia snorted. “Romantic, isn’t he?”

He’d said it jokingly, but Romano was actually quite romantic, just…not the usual way. Romano’s love wasn’t often in his words or in grand romantic gestures. Those came at times, and they left Prussia in shambles, because he was soft like that, but you could see Romano’s love most of all in the little things. In Prussia’s favorite dish, that Romano had cooked not because it was Prussia’s favorite, mind you, but because he totally felt like eating potatoes. Or in the fact that when Prussia visited, he always made sure to put the toilet paper roll in the bathroom right side up, even if he had said countless times that it was a stupid thing and that there wasn’t a right or wrong way to position fucking toilet paper – and he was wrong, of course.

Romano just cared so much. 

“It’s hard for him to show it, but make him feel safe enough and he’ll give you more love than you can imagine, Ita-cakes.”

He really hoped he wasn’t crossing any line with that piece of advice. He knew things were a bit difficult between the two of them and that both brothers would have wanted to have a better relationship. Romano had told him, Italy was an open book. Was it so bad that Prussia wanted to give things a little push to make that wish come true?

It mattered to him more than ever now that he was dying.

It was time for Prussia’s grin to falter now. 

When he heard the story about Grandpa Rome, it became crystal clear to him why Romano was the way he was. So guarded and fearful around people, pushing them away with his prickly attitude. It’s better to reject others first than getting attached and then abandoned again, right?

“Do you think he’ll be able to forgive me, Ita-cakes?” he asked, voice unbearably quiet.

He had done his damnedest to hammer it home that he would never willingly leave Romano, that he loved him and wanted to be with him.

And yet, even knowing how much it was going to hurt him, he was still leaving. 

Italy took his hands in his. “This is out of your control, Prussia. He knows that.”

“It won’t make it hurt any less.”

“It’ll take time, but he’s going to be okay.”

Ah, little Italy, trying to reassure him with that sad smile of his, knowing all too well what he was talking about. 

He felt his hands gently easing him back against the pillows, now that he was all wrapped up in clean bandages. “Is this good? Are you feeling alright?”

Prussia nodded. “Thank you Ita-cakes.”

“It’s no problem! Besides, I promised Germany I would take care of you.”

Blessed Italy, truly. He had managed to pry West away from him and force him to finally take care of himself. Not sure how long that was going to last, but it was something at least, his brother had been neglecting himself too much for his sake.

“It’s not because of this,” he pointed to his back. “Or well, it is too, but…thanks for being in West’s life. He’s happy with you.”

Italy blushed and his smile seemed to grow even bigger. “I’m happy with him too!”

Man, what was with these Italian brothers and being impossibly cute? He found himself smiling as well.

A beat of silence passed as Prussia gathered the courage to speak again. “Ita-cakes, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Hm? Sure thing!”

“Please, be there for them when I’m gone.”

“Don’t doubt that even for a second.” Italy said, and by the look in his eyes, Prussia knew he was going to keep his promise. 

He thanked him and slumped against his pillows, feeling a weight being lifted off his chest. The two people he cherished the most in the world were going to be in good hands. He hated not being in control, not being able to protect his loved ones. But he was forced to accept his circumstances. And Italy taking care of West and Romano was one of the best outcomes he could hope for.

He looked back to Romano. If he kept sleeping in that position his back and neck were going to kill him in the morning. “We should probably wake him up, his joints are gonna scream bloody murder at him if he stays like that.”

“Mhm, you’re right.”

“I’ll pretend to be already asleep, that way it should be easier for you to take him away.” 

He felt guilty tricking Romano like that, but even if they wanted to spend as much time as possible together, he, too, really needed to take care of himself more. Since Prussia’s health had started deteriorating he’d been exhausting himself, doting on and worrying over him, dividing himself between Germany and Italy, trying to still do his job, as tempted as he was to dump everything on his brother.

Prussia was the one who had pushed him to keep working and maintain his relationships, he didn’t want him to lose his life, his status, his friendships, just because of him. Those would help him get back on his feet once Prussia was gone. Romano absolutely had to move forward, keep on living, find happiness again.

Italy seemed to understand him, he nodded and Prussia closed his eyes. 

“Rooomaaaa…Rooooomaaaaaaaa…..Romaaaanooooooooo….” he called.

Prussia had to fight a smile. It always took a bit to wake him up. He usually did it peppering him with lots of kisses, so he’d be in a good mood…and hopefully start kissing back. 

He heard Romano groan a little, roused by his brother’s gentle nudging. He muttered something, then there was a moment of silence. “Oh, he’s asleep…” he said softly.

Dammit, he sounded so disappointed. Prussia already wanted to call the whole thing off.

“He has been for a while, you should take advantage of it and rest in a more comfortable place.” came Italy’s voice. Truly blessed Italy, the voice of reason, stopping him from doing something foolish.

Romano seemed to ignore him. “How is he? Was he in pain?” He felt a hand brush delicately against his.

“He said he was okay when I asked!” 

“Did you change his bandages?”

“Yes sir!”

He didn’t need to have his eyes open to know Romano was glaring at his brother. He felt the back of his hand against his forehead, checking for a fever. 

“Thanks…” he heard him mutter.

“No problem, brother!”

Romano went back to holding his hand loosely, slowly running his thumb back and forth across his knuckles.

“We should go, we risk to wake him up like this.” 

“Right…you go, I’ll stay with him.”

“Roma, you can’t sleep in that chair again, your neck is going to hurt!”

“Not gonna sleep.”

Hey no.

“But you need to sleep!”

Hell yea, you tell him, Ita-cakes.

“It’s fine, if he wakes up and needs anything, I wanna be here.”

Shit, Prussia was gonna get all choked up like that. 

“And if he needs help sitting up, you won’t be able to help him because you’re too sleepy and in pain to lift him, your shoulders are already stiff!”

Prussia could feel the lethal force of Romano’s glare. But just as it came, it was immediately gone. 

A huff. “Jeez Vene, you’re being more dramatic than Verga.”

Surprisingly enough, Italy wasn’t a pile of dust on the floor and Prussia heard him giggle.

“Come on, if he needs anything, he can call us, we’ll just be in the room next door!” he said in a reassuring tone.

Romano gave a defeated sigh. “Okay, okay. You start going, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“Okay.” Italy said and Prussia heard his steps move and then the door open and close. 

“He didn’t fluff up your pillows the right way,” Romano grumbled, displeasure clear in his tone. “Can’t even fix them now, dammit.”

His hand moved to gingerly brush Prussia’s hair out of his forehead and to stroke his cheek, so so gently. Then a soft kiss was placed on his temple and Prussia was sure he was going to burst.

Burst out crying? Burst in general? Who knows, probably both.

Romano stayed there for another little while, took his hand in his again. He gave it one last squeeze before letting it go and turning off his lamp. Then Prussia heard his steps move away from him and the click of the door opening. Romano lingered in the doorway for a moment and whispered: “Sleep well, idiot. I’ll be right here when you wake up tomorrow.”

The door was closed and Prussia opened his eyes. He stared at it for a while, right at the spot where Romano had been just a few seconds earlier, as if that could make him come back. He wished he could be there with him, but he reminded himself that it was better this way, Romano needed to get some proper rest.

But hey, he had promised to be there when he woke up, so Prussia closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep, like a little bird. That way tomorrow would arrive sooner.

**Author's Note:**

> So, who the heck is Verga?
> 
> Giovanni Verga, born in Sicily in 1840, was a writer who had quite the depressy worldview. His masterpiece is a series of novels that was left unfinished, Il ciclo dei vinti (literally: The series of the defeated).
> 
> Through those books he wanted to send the message that you better not try to improve your social status, because if you do, everything will come crashing down and things will be even worse.
> 
> Quite literally, he wrote a book about this family of fishers who wanted to sell some lupines to make some more money and the son who had to go and sell them died in a storm at sea. Not only that, but they also lost their boat. And that was just the beginning.
> 
> So yeah, Romano was basically telling Veneziano that he was being a drama queen. Quite rich coming from him, I know.


End file.
